Home Office Biometrics seeking technology delivery partner for multi-location IT service

The UK’s Home Office has posted a request seeking a technology delivery partner to work with the Home Office Biometrics (HOB) Program team to provide a “large, complex program converging IT systems into a cohesive, cost effective, user-centered service”.

The HOB program aims to develop a unified, integrated biometric service that is effective, adaptable, efficient, proportionate and lawful.

The existing immigration and law enforcement biometrics systems are large, complex IT systems supporting thousands of users and millions of records. Current stakeholders include border force and immigration, international agencies, and all police forces across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In order to support national security and public safety, HOB stakeholders need to accurately, and in many cases rapidly, identify individuals of interest across many locations, such as custody suites, mobile locations, borders, passport office, and visa application centers.

This must be achieved in a way that complies with policy and legislation; is simple and convenient to use; and is helpful and convenient for genuine applicants, visitors, and law abiding citizens.

The technology partner will enable this delivery by providing support to the existing team and owning specific work packages over the duration of the program.

The two-year contract (within the context of a four-year program) will start in September 2016. Prospective applicants are invited to submit questions to be answered by the HOB by July 4, while all applications must be submitted by July 11.

The IT program delivery skills include user research, business analysis, technical design, sourcing/procurement projects, project management, data migration, and PMO.

With an expected budget in excess of £15 million (US$20.1 million), the HOB technology delivery team will vary in size but is expected to have a foundation of 30 people.

Meanwhile, the HOB’s existing contracts for the primary systems end in 2019. These capabilities have been developed independently over the last 20 years and the program is now working to converge them into a unified service.